REBELLION-SLAVERY-PEACE.
AN
AD D RESS
ON THE SIJBJECT OF
REBELLION, SLAVERY AND PEACE,
Delivered at Concord, N. H., March 2, 1864.
BY N. G. UPHAM.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.
CONCORD:
PUBLISHED BY E. C. EASTMAN.
1864.




i'lINTE'I;,D   BY   3I'FA\RLA. NI)  AND ).11, I2NKS.A.




IN T RO D UCTION.
The grounds alleged as justifying the rebellion of the South
under the claim of State Rights, Nullification, Secession, and the
doctrine that there is no piower to coerce a State, were considered
by me, as preliminary to the subject of the present address on
"Rebellion, Slavery and Peace," but are omitted, as it was
found the whole could not be well embraced in one address.
It is sufficient to say they furnish no just pretense of excuse
for Southern rebellion. A farther complaint is made, as justifying or extenuating rebellion, founded on the movements of
abolitionists. A candid examination of complaints from this
cause, to ascertain how far they are within the Constitution,
and to what extent beyond it, would show no just ground of
rebellion. A like examination of the ultraisms of slavery,
and its encroachments on the Constitution, would furnish as
much ground of complaint against the South, at least, as can
be urged against the North.
Such complaints are immaterial as a ground of present
action.  No examination of them  can shield Plebellion and
Disunion firom the utter abhorrence of any considerate mind.
No party can stand upon them with the sanction of the
people.
In the Address the remark is made, that "' a great responsibility now rests upon us, as, with a united North, rebellion
would at once cease."
The first ground relied upon by the South to sustain them,
was, that there would not be here a determined resistance to
rebellion; that disunion would exist, and " blood would flow
at the Norlth."
A second ground was, that the influence of King Cotton
would sustain them; that destitution, starvation and riots




4
would exist in all our manufacturing  towns.  This was
believed in at the South, and asserted by their sympathizers
at the North. The same result from  this cause was anticipated in Europe.
Another ground of reliance was aid from monarchical governments abroad, arising from their jealousy of us as a nation,
and from  the assimilation of a government of great landed
aristocrats, utterly controlling its destinies, to the dynasties
of Europe, with the proffer of an alliance, offensive and defensive, with those governments.
Each of these grounds of reliance have failed. One chance
more remains, and but one.  The hope of disunion at the N/Yorth
in the coming political crisis. This will fail them.
It may be considered settled that the only practicable basis
on which any party can stand, is utter, uncompromising hostility
to rebellion, and a determinzation to put it down at all hazards.
The party or interest that can show to the people their ability
to effect this result, most certainly and efficiently, WILL
PREVAIL, AND NONE OTHER.




ADDRE SS.
Friends cand Fellow-Citizens, Ladies ancd Gentlemen:
I wish to say a few words by way of preface to the
remarks I propose to make on this occasion. There
are various matters involved in the controversy in
which we are now engaged, requiring the examination
and candid consideration of every intelligent mind.
In the midst of times of excitement like the present,
it is difficult to gain such consideration, but it is, notwithstanding, the basis of all consistent, reliable action.  I shall attempt, therefore, to persuade your
judgment in any thing I may say, rather than arouse
your feelings by impassioned appeals.
I propose to address you on the subject of Rebellion, Slavery and Peace, in their nmutual bearings and
relations to each other, and so far as a right understanding of those relations may affect our destiny and
duty as a people.
Rebellion is armed opposition against the government of a country to which one owes allegiance.
Such opposition is necessarily vested in the control of
some leader, committee of safety, directory, or other
mode of rule extemporized or adopted for the occa



sion. The rebellion may extend throughout the limits of a city, a county, or a State, and the ordinary
government of such organizations be perverted into
agencies to carry on and maintain such rebellion.
But whether it assumes to act through any such prior
agency, or originates an entirely new: agency for this
purpose; whether it is made up of the people of parts
of States, of whole States, or of a combination of
various States, is immaterial.  If the action is a concerted disavowal of allegiance to the Government,
and an armed opposition to it, it is in all such cases
alike rebellion, under whatever name it may be called.
Such a rebellion, if resisted, becomes at once civil
war- one of the most deadly and destructive calamities known to man; and, when commenced against a
government of a well-ordered, beneficent character, is
a crime of unparalleled enormity.
In such a war, all concerned are principals, and are
subject to the forfeiture of life and estate. But when
large numbers of a population are in arms, the crime
assumes, for the time being, the proportions and character of a strife between nations, and must be governed in its conduct by the ordinary rules of war, to
abide in the end the result it merits.
Such is the character of the war in which w-e are
engaged.  Treason extends through one third of the
Union. It has usurped State organizations, turning
them against us, and wields, for the time being, practical sovereignty over their limits.  It has been
declared, by our highest judicial authority, " a territorial civil war."  It is a war of enormous extent and
terrific power, as its continuance for three lamentable
years so fully testifies.




7
EFFECT OF REBELLION ON SLAVERY.
The controversy exists between a section of country where slavery prevails, and one where the people,
with a slight exception, are wholly free; and the very
first question raised in the encounter, to which we propose to direct your attention, is, what is to become of
the slave as our armies advance into the enemies' territory?
We contend that the power of the master over the
slave is not of a character that a belligerent, by any
of the established rules of war, is bound to respect.
This seems well sustained by various reasons.
1. We may rightfully seize and appropriate to our
use all articles contraband of war.
As our armies moved into Southern territory, people
previously held in involuntary servitude rushed to
them for protection. What was to be done with
them? This question was promptly solved by General
Butler, on whom the contingency was forced. " I
know what they are," he says; " they are contraband
of war."  This decision is well sustained against slaveholders on every principle. The whole history of the
contest shows that slaves have been used by the
South, wherever they could be made available in the
maintenance of the war, against us, and it is not for
the Confederate Government to deny that we can
seize such property and apply it in our defence, as we
would a cannon or locomotive.
Or, if the slaves are to be regarded as men, bound
like their masters in loyalty to the government, they
have an undoubted right to escape from the perverted
power asserted over them by the South to the control




8
of the only government to which they owe allegiance,
and they may thus strike home with us, as free and
loyal men, against a common enemy.
John Quincy Adams saw this result as inevitable in
case of intestine collision, and if the South saw it not,
in their hasty secession, it was the fault of their own
recklessness, and is another instance of that
"Vaulting Ambition which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on the other side."
The Southern slaveholder may declaim against this
result, and the barbarity of turning the exasperated
slave against his former master, but, under his new
military life, he becomes thoroughly drilled, and is
held subject, in his hostility, to all the rules of war.
Beside, if exasperated, we may well ask, who made
him so? and how this compares with his happy and
contented condition, which has been so often presented to us? Thus far the conduct of the liberated
slaves has been commendable. There certainly have
been no outrages committed by them  comparable to
those habitually manifested by Southern men against
Union citizens within their precincts.
2. In the second place, we contend, if the slave
escapes, in consequence of the war, from his master's
control, it is to be regarded as a voluntary relinquishment of him by the master.
If a Southern slaveholder brings his slave with him
to a Northern State, he voluntarily liberates him. If
he is once within a free State, and is not a fugitive,
there is no law which can hold him in bondage.
So where the treason of the master causes war, the
master voluntarily accepts all the results embraced in




his acts; and if his hold over his slave is loosened
thereby, so that he is captured, or escapes to the enemy, it is a voluntary surrender of him to those incidents that work out his freedom.  When  peace
returns,. should the master follow him to a free State,
to reassert his right, the escape, under the circumstances, would be held as, in effect, a voluntary manumission by the master, which he would be estopped from
denying. It may be considered a maxim, that the
slaveholder who declares war subjects himself, of his
own free choice, to the loss of all slaves that may be
swept from him in its vortex.
3. Again, the slave, under such circumstances, is
liberated, because all law that could hold him is, for
the time being, practically abrogated.
While secession is paramount in any section of
country, it dissolves all connection with this government. Victory, after a longer or shorter period, may
reinstate our power, and revive the rights we once
held, but, in the mean time, there is an entire interregymrn; and if, during that period, the slave comes
within our limits, he comes where there is no law in
force to bind him; he is a free man, and no subsequent revival of any such law can react on him. It
might react on certain rights of property, known as
such by public law, but could not revive to reinslave
a person held only by local statute, from under which
he had escaped while inoperative by the voluntary
action of such local power. No case is known, after
peace has been declared, of the compulsory return of
slaves that escaped to a belligerent in time of war;
and a civil war, especially, should form no exception
to the general rule.




10
4. Farther - treason, on the part of the master,
subjects his slaves and other property to forfeiture by
confiscation or liberation.
By act of Congress of July 17, 1862, the slaves of
all persons adjudged guilty of treason are declared to
be, and are made, free; and no slave, on application,
can be surrendered up, or in any way hindered or impeded in his liberty, unless oath shall first be made
that the master of such slave hath not borne arms
against the United States in the present rebellion, or
in any way given aid or comfort thereto. The open
war waged by tho South, embracing in it for the most
part its entire residents, as aiders and abettors of treason, renders this law practically an entire abolition of
slavery.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION.
In connection with these views of the necessary
operation of war on slavery, I propose to consider the
effect of the President's proclamation. This is a war
measure, based substantially on the rights we have
asserted; making them  prominent, by official announcement, and conclusive and absolute, unless prevented by a return to loyalty within a specified period.
This measure was rendered necessary, as the South
seems to have entered into the war to sustain slavery
with the belief that during its continuance, and until
its final result, slavery could not be affected by it.
The same feeling prevailed to some extent at the
North.
The early events of the war, as managed by us,
encouraged this idea. Many among us entertained




11
the belief that the South would early return to reason and loyalty, and were opposed to the full exercise
of the powers of war, lest it should interpose new
obstacles to such return. Experience soon banished
this delusive hope. It was found that the leaders of
the rebellion had staked their all on the issue of the
contest.  Bad as their cause was, in emulation of our
fathers they had determined that, sink or swim, live
or die, survive or perish, they would have no connection with a government where freedom was the rule
and slavery the exception.  They had fully determined they would have a government where slavery
was not regarded as a merely incidental matter, but
as its chief corner-stone; and based, in their own
phrase, " on the proper relations of labor and capital,
where they might vindicate, on their own chosen arena, their selected type of social characteristics."*  Our
people talked of peace commissioners, peace propositions, and a return to the Union. They scoffed at the
suggestion; trampled upon it; spit upon it.  No!
Slavery they would have under their own independent "homogeneous nationality;" a Union with free
States they would not have. Such is the exact position assumed toward us by the South.
But the President, notwithstanding all this, concludes to try them once more. "You may have slavery," he says, " if you return to loyalty and the Constitution within a given time, but if you do not
return we will dispose of that cause of controversy,
and, as a penalty for your farther persistence in the
war, we will confiscate your interest in slave property."
* See address of the Confederate Congress to the Southern people.




12
Three objections have been taken to this proclamation.  The first is, that the President should have
offered no such terms to traitors with arms in their
hands. This objection is now of no avail. It is sufficient, perhaps, to say that it clearly manifested a
desire on the part of the President for peace.
The second objection is, that the proclamation is
unconstitutional.  This I will endeavor to consider by
and by.
A third objection seems to come from the South.;Why," say they, " in much the larger portion of our
territory, where you propose to abolish slavery, you
have no possession; howv, then, can you, by mere
proclamation, emancipate slaves over whom you have
no control? Suppose you fail of getting possession of
the country?" Aye, there is the rub! But when a
great country, embracing the entire Northern, Western and Middle States, is engaged in maintaining its
government and preserving the Union, so vital to the
cause of freedom  here, and of suffering humanity
throughout the world, the effort is not very likely to
fail.  This is what troubles the South.  The President makes the proclamation, and runs his risk. Time
only can tell the result.  But this is certain: just so
fast and just so far as our armies advance, slavery is
overthrown, and the proclamation is a reality!
It was important, moreover, that the precise issue
raised in this struggle, and persisted in by the South,
should be known - that our army, as it bore the broad
standard of the nation southward, should understand
that no man who fled from Southern traitors to stand
beneath its folds could stand there as a slave. It was
important, also, that our friends abroad, who consist




13
of the entire mass of the population of Europe, savinig only their hereditary rulers and their immediate
satellites, who are the enemies of freedom every
where; it was important, in this long night of our
affliction, while they were bending forward to see
through the thick darkness how went the battle, that
they should know what was involved in this direful
struggle.
"W5Vatchlnan! tell us of the night,
WVhat its signs of promise are!
Traveler! o'er yon mountain's height,
See that glory-beaming star!"
The President did not make this issue.  The South
made it.  He merely announces to the world the fact.
Their war-cry, from the first, ringing along the line of
all their hosts, has been, "Down iwith the Union to
save Slavery!"  If this be so, what can our war-cry
be but the exact reverse of it: "Down with Slavery,
down with any interposing force or obstacle, whatever
it may be, to save the Union!"
FUTURE INSUBORDINATION OF TilE SLAVE.
But there is another mode in which the Rebellion
is qjfecting Slavery, which I wish to consider, and that
is, its home aspect, as it operates on the mind of the
slave himself.
Not only the free people of the North and South
have an interest in the controversy now goingo on, but
the poor slave himself.  It is in vain to suppose that
he does not fully understand the moving cause of this
contest.  Early in the war, Mr. N. P. Willis, of the
Homte Joutrnal, visited the Custis estate, the property




14
of General Lee, then and now held as a military
post, at Arlington; and seeing there an aged, grayheaded negress remaining sitting in apparent lethargy
in the garden grounds, he asked her the meaning of
this controversy. She roused herself a moment from
her stupor to say,'" It's all about what we've been suffering so lon(g." The slaves every where understand
this.  The surging of troops backward and forward
throughl the land; the digging of trenches; the strife;
the bearing back of the wounded; the burial of the
dead; the direful chang es wrought on the whole surface of the South, tell the tale in a thousand ways to
eagerly listening ears.  No breeze, no sigh, no suppressed groan, no muttering thunder of distant cannon escapes them. They all know, in their own phraseolo(y, "' It's all about what we've been sufferlin, so
long!"
This awakened excitement never can be put down.
Out of all civil war there necessarily comes some shock,
and some changes.  When the sturdy oak of the forest
is struck by lightning, the trunk is not only seamed and
scorched and riven,but its weaker branches are usually
hurled to the ground, so that no reconstruction can
repair it. And it is often the case that the abuses or
perverted institutions of society that have caused civil
war, have been broken down, consumed or annihilated
by the strife, so that, when it ceased, the stake for
which the party had thrown down the gauge of battle
is destroyed, or has become shattered, deteriorated, or
worthless.
The South are in danger of finding, such to be the
result in their case. It is questionable whether, in any
event, they will ever agoain be able to drive the blacks




to their daily tasks with any hope of profit.  They
may find their only alternative from this issue, even if
left to their own nationality, to be, everlasting bloodshed, or an utter change in their constitutions of society, from  a state of slavery to one of compensated
labor, so infinitely more beneficial both to master and
slave!
I have thus far attempted to define the rights of
war cas becrinly on the iinstitution of slavery; the nc)iature
and effect of the President's Proclamation, c as a war
measure, acnd the influence of the War on the character
of the Slave himself.
AUTHORITY TO MAKE PEACE, AND WHAT CONSTITUTES PEACE.
I now propose to consider the question of peace.
But, in doing this, it is necessary to determine the
preliminary matters —in whom rests the power to
make peace, and what constitutes a state of peace in
transition from rebellion to loyalty. I farther propose to consider the reasons and grounds on which
alone peace can be made, consistently with permanence, and insuring the best interest and harmony of
the whole people.
There are individuals who propose to extend the
absurd doctrine of a Constitutional right of any State
to secede at pleasure from the Union, to the farther
right to secede back from  the Confederacy to our
councils, at their own pleasure, without query on
our part; and who contend such return of a State
constitutes peace. Ift; in the mean time, they say,
their citizens have been guilty of any crime against
the Government, in their temporary absence, they




16
must be indicted by a grand jury, and tried for treason, and this is our remedy. But we do not so
regard it. The South rejected the jurisdiction of
our civil tribunals, and resorted to war, and war, once
appealed to, is the arbiter of its own difficulties.
It is for the Government to determine when the
hostility of a State ceases, and the rebellion has terminated. If the rebellious States come back to the
Union, we wish to know whether they come back
claiming a right to secede again at their pleasure, or
to resume their constitutional place as a component
and'subordinate part of the Government? Whether
they come back trumpeting aloud their defiant heresies, succumbing temporarily to gain strength for new
collisions; or, repudiating their past errors, ready, joyfully to follow the National flag, and keep time to the
music of the Union?
Until these questions are rightly answered, we can
have no assurance that we are to have the Constitution as it is, or the Union as it was, except subject to
the construction of those Nvho have, without cause, or
just sanction of any kind, traitorously overthrown
both.
The Constitution, as we claim it, and swear to abide
by it, is as different from the Constitution asserted to
exist by the South, as light from darkness.  The Constitution, as the South claim it, is a pitiful delusion; a
travestie on government; a mere disintegrating mass,
where each individual atom of which it is composed
is greater than the whole.
It is not for the succumbing or yielding party to
dictate terms of peace, and such consideration, especially, is not due to one that has held the position of




17
a rebel. The hoisting of a white flag, or the throwing
down of arms is not peace. There may still be a
refusal to take the oath of allegiance, or to assume or
discharge any of the duties of a loyal citizen.
It is a difficult matter, where each State has its own
separate organization, and, at the same time, is part
and parcel of the general government, to change its
people in rebellion into good and loyal citizens. But
this difficulty only increases the necessity of care and
caution in making such change. Surely the loyalty
of the citizen can not be safely admitted till he is
relieved from all taint as a rebel. The participator in
rebellion has forfeited his life, and, much more, any
reasonable claim to his rights of franchise, which can
only be extended to him by the govermnent, through
pardon to him, when the rebellion is suppressed.
Questions, then, of the proper restoration of the
citizen to his rights of franchise, and reconstruction
of the government, become all important at a time
like this.
On this point various theories have been suggested,
which, for some time to come, must occupy, in a marked
degree, the public attention.  These several theories
contemplate action by the Government, and amnesty
to some extent. The difference is only in degree.
The President holds that, with regard to the masses
of the people, the amnesty, with a view to peace,
should be an entire pardon, with the single exception
that property in slaves should be abandoned by them.
The so-called peace party rebel at this suggestion,
and allege that the interference of the President with
slavery, in his proclamation and amnesty, is both
unconstitutional and unwise.
2




18
CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATIONS AS,
TO SLAVERY AND AMNESTY.
The charge as to the unconstitutionality of these
measures I propose here to examine. It resolves itself
into the question which we have just been discussing
in part, whether the nation, through its chief executive magistrate, has power to dictate terms of peace
to rebels? He either has this power, or there is some
precise limitation of it, which his act transcends. If
the latter be the case, what is the limit to such power,
and by whom is it to be exercised?
Congress has the power to control the acts of the
President in most matters relating to war, and measures to enforce the laws of the United States, and to
suppress insurrections and invasions. But, until such
action of Congress, the measures of the President,
within the scope of his war powers as chief executive officer of the government, and as commanderin-chief of the army and navy, are valid. Within
such scope, which has a wide limit, all his acts are
discretionary.
In addition, he has an unlimited power to grant
reprieves and pardons for all offenses against the
United States, except in cases of impeachment. In
time of foreign war he may make a truce or armistice
at his pleasure, and a peace, subject to the approval
of the Senate. In case of rebellion, it is his duty to
persist in measures for its suppression until it is terminated; of which termination he alone is to be the
judge, unless Congress.interfere by its supervisory
power over him.  It is an exercise of judgment
which no judicial authority has a right to reverse or




19
declare unconstitutional. So long as Congress does
not assume the control of such measures, the acts of
the President are to be regarded as sound and just;
or, if they are otherwise, the only proper remedy is
by impeachment.
Subject to these limitations and restrictions, had
the President power to order armies, as they marched
into -the rebellious States, to liberate the slaves of
rebels?  It is undoubtedly a perfectly legitimate exercise of the war power,,as we have already shown.
But it is said he undertook to liberate slaves in large
tracts of country, far beyond the immediate reach of
the army. He did undertake to do this, unless the
parties then in rebellion returned to their allegiance
within a given time. But does the fact that the
slaves were not then immediately within the reach of
his armies make any difference, provided the power of
the Government ultimately reaches them? It seems
to me the difference of time in perfecting the liberation announced makes no difference in principle. At
all events there is no constitutional objection to the
act. Tliere is no power that can reverse it but Congress; and, so far as it is an act done, it is questionable whether Congress has power over it.
The power of amnesty in the President in case of
treason is a direct constitutional grant, which all concede can not be interfered with.
From the remarks made it must be apparent that,
the movements of our armies to put down rebellion;
their interference with local institutions, as a rightful
effect of war; the offers of amnesty as aprelimninary
to peace, and the determining when peace and order
are so established that it is safe to withdraw our




20
armies, and trust to the efficiency of the civil arem of
government for the due exercise of its authority, are
all legitimate exercises of the powers of government.
And in the discharges of these powers it is but fair
to presume the President and representatives of the
people will endeavor to act for the best interests of
the public.
TERMS OF PEACE.
I now propose to consider the question of Terms of
Peace wholly independent of any measures the Government may have taken in regard to it, and solely
on what I conceive to be its just merits.
In doing this I set aside altogether any idea of
peace in connection with a dissevered Union. God
and nature seem to have determined, in the configuration of our country, that we must remain one in
union and one in destiny. There has been no contingency suggested which presents such a perpetual
store-house of evils as a divided empire. Our people
will not consent to be thrust back as an' interior
nation, cut off from the free outlet to the ocean
through our large bays and rivers, or our being restricted to a limited or doubtful control over them.
They will tolerate no hostile nation on our shores in
alliance, offensive and defensive, with foreign despotisms. We have passed that contingency, I trust, if
it ever existed, and stand firmly on the old Jackson
ground-the Union, it musi and shall be preserved!
Any question of peace which I shall consider will
be peace where it alone is admissible — PEACE
WITHIN THE UNION.




21
And I lay down here this proposition, that it is the
duty of the Government to make peace whenever it
can do so with a reasonable assurance that peace will
be permanendt.
PEACE INCONSISTENT WITH THE CONTINUANCE OF SLAVERY.
In the second place, I lay down the further proposition that there canz be no recasonable assurance of a
pernanzneet peace while slavery exists.
The reasons for this opinion I will endeavor to give.
The history of the past shows that slavery has been
a constantly disturbing element in our government.
On the first establishment of the Constitution our
western boundary was on the Mississippi river.  Our
whole country at that time was, for the most part,
substantially settled, saving the North-Western Territory, which, under the impulse of those days in
favor of liberty, was early set apart for a free population.  Since that time our territory has been so enlarged that the Mississippi river now nearly bisects us
into two equal regions of country.  Our flag floats
alike on the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
In the words of an early New-Hampshire poet —
" No pent-up Utica contracts our powers,
For the whole boundless continent is ours."
These changes have vastly multiplied the grounds
of collision between the free and slave States, so that
the battle has been fought between them  over the
acquisition of each foot of territory, tile admission of
each new State, the preliminary occupation and organization of each new territorial government, and in a




22
thousand other instances where the lines of demarcation of their respective interests seemed to clash.
Europe has changed in the mean time. The Bourbon dynasty has gone down.  New ideas of liberty
have thrilled through the people of Europe. The
spirit of the age is tending toward freedom every
where.  An emigration has flocked from  the old
world, and peopled the Northern free States with
unexampled rapidity, and the vanguard of millions,
yet to come, are on the way.
A strife of opinions has been awakened among us,
acting and reacting on each other, through the movements of extremists of either party, until their antagonistic forces have ultimately come in collision with a
power and fearfulness that shows the desperate nature of the encounter, and the question now arises,
when will this strife stop? I answer that it will stop
when the winds stop their motion; when the waves
cease to roll; when truth shall succumb to falsehood; when darkness shall settle down on the earth
like a pall, and the sun of light, and glory, and civilization shall cease to shine. Never until then!
In prior portions of our history the efforts of many
noble, loyal men, including Webster, Clay and Jackson, have been put forth to conciliate, ward off, or
repel the numerous evils, actual and, threatened, arising from this conflict; but the result of their efforts
was temporary.  The danger was merely delayed.
The hostility continued until slavery, at last, manifested its true character in sundering the Union and
waging war against the Government; and the question now arises whether there is any possibility of,reater hope of the future than has existed in the past?




23
After the appalling calamities visited upon us by
slavery, and the greatly increased hatred that exists
toward it, can it be expected, if slavery should, under
any circumstances, be received back again into our
councils, that Northern men will be ready, on account
of any Constitutional requirement, to rush to the
South to put down servile insurrections? If a slave
flees to the North, will our people henceforth rally,
unitedly and harmoniously, to send him back to
slavery?  Shall we be willing to retain forever, as
part of our inheritance, the balancing of Free State
against Slave; the strife, the hatred, the antagonism
between the systems of free and slave labor? Shall
free speech be violently prohibited at the South, as
heretofore, leaving the safety of Northern mein, who
may be casually there, at the mere caprice of an
infuriate mob?  Shall continual collisions exist as to
the right of the South to extend slavery at their
pleasure into the Territories? And shall new efforts
and raids be made against friendly governments, to
acquire slave territory to be annexed to the Union,
involving us in continual difficulties both at home
and abroad? In fine, shall we have for ever reenacted
the same disturbances, divisions and animosities that
have characterized our position, arising from our
connection with slavery, and which have culminated
in the fearful controversy in which we are now
involved?
These questions demand the earnest considerationi
and fair answer of all who are desirous of peace.
They are not questions for the North to consider
merely, but for the South, and for every reflecting
man throughout the country.




24
If in time past these things were barely tolerated;
if peace was then uncertain, and forever trembling in
the balance, can we expect any thing better in the
future? Is it possible that our excited, suffering people will endure again, willingly, all these tribulations;
and is this endurance peace?
Beside, the question of peace with slavery, appeals
directly to the South on account of the bearing of the
Rebellion on the character of the slave on his own
soil —the home aspect of slavery -to which I have
before adverted, but to which I will again recur.
The armies of the Union have penetrated in various directions far into the Confederate territory;
have sundered its States into two sections, and have
either shut up its prominent seaports, or hold them
by an armed force, and the pervading influence of
freedom is reaching the slave on every threshold and
hearth-stone of the South.
It has become exceedingly doubtful whether the
African race, with their newly awakened ideas of liberty, can be henceforth kept in slavery, in any contingency. Secession, that was designed to sunder the
Union, has thus far sundered merely the bonds of
slavery, or has so far weakened or paralyzed the rule
of the master as to render the institution dangerous
to him, and, in a prudential point of view, nearly or
quite worthless.
The hope of freedom, now so prominent before the
slave, is the only remaining safety-valve of slavery.
Remove this, and there is danger, to say the least, of
its being a mere life-loneg insurrection, either destroying or placing in perpetual peril the happiness and
best interests of the South.




25
COMPARATIVE VALUE OF THE UNION AND SLAVERY.
But there are other considerations bearing on this
question, worthy of examination, arising from the
comparative value of slavery and the Union.
If any one should doubt whether slavery was necessarily the death of the Unionz, still, if he believed its
existence would seriously endanger and inmperil it,
that danger should ensure its overthrow.
The value of the Union can not be calculated. If
our mountains were transmuted into gold they would
form no appreciable commencement toward its valuation. There is no known quantity by which to estimate it.
On the other hand, the value of slavery can be calculated. The Southern planter will readily tell you
the value of his best slaves, and the average value of
the whole, reckoning together the young, the middleaged, the old and infirm, of both sexes.
Now the North alone has paid two thousand millions of dollars on account of slavery, and will necessarily pay quite as much more by way of interest
before this debt is liquidated. It has sacrificed also
two hundred thousand lives, and yet slavery is still
crying, " Give! Give!"
Is this not enough to pay for slavery? And if
this is the price we have already paid for it, and
which we may have to pay again, is it not too great
a risk to incur, to receive it back without terms and
without question, to citizenship and life, when it is
now a convicted felon, under sentence of death for its
treason?  Is it not altogether too much to put at
hazard, if by so doing there is a possibility that it
may at some future day destroy the Union?




26
COMPARATIVE VALUE OF SLAVE LABOR AND COMPENSATED
LABOR.
Again, if the South would give this subject its due
consideration, it might be clearly shown to them that
their best interests are by no means dependent on
slavery, and never have been; and for this reason
there should be no reluctance or misgiving on their
part in the surrender of slavery for the sake of peace.
There are two states of society —two systems of
labor - either of which the South can select at its
own option. The Southern planter may purchase his
slaves at a considerable outlay of capital; be subject
to interest upon it; provide his slaves with their
homes and their clothing; pay their bills in sickness;
maintain them in infancy and old age, and furnish
them with such comforts as they may have beyond a
mere subsistence; incur the risk as to their life and
health; their habits of industry or insubordination;
the expenses of the overseer; the risk of insurrection; the necessity of arming himself and his wife
and children for protection, and be subject to the
sleepless nights — the ever-watchful anxiety of the
system. Or he may deal with his servants and laborers as men; devolving on them the responsibility of
their own maintenance in such state and condition as
the just recompense of their industry and faithfulness
entitles them to; leaving them to rear up their children under their own care as parents; encouraging
them to educate and elevate their race, mentally and
morally; permitting them  to own themselves and
such property as they may acquire, and to enjoy the
sweets and blessings of liberty, coupled with those
kind and beneficent influences that ever exist between




27
a just and humane landlord and his tenantry, where
mutual good offices can be rendered and reciprocated;
coupled, also, with the peace and harmony that is ever
the attendant on relations thus sustained.  Surely,
there can be little doubt which of these systems can
work the most good.
The opinion of Reverdy Johnson on this subject,
who has always been a native of a slave State, is
worthy of consideration. He says: "I believe, and
have ever believed, since I was capable of thought,
that slavery is a great affliction to any country where
it prevails; and, so believing, I can never vote for any
measure calculated to enlarge its area, or to render
more permanent its duration. In some latitudes, and
for some agricultural staples, slave labor may be to
the master the most valuable species of labor, though
this I greatly doubt.  In other States, and particularly in Maryland, I am convinced that it is the very
dearest species of labor, and in all, as far as national
wealth, and power, and happiness are concerned, I am
persuaded it admits of no comparison with the labor
of freemen - and, above all, disguise it as we may, if
the laws of popuilation shall not be changed by Providence, or man's nature shall not be changed, it is acn
institution sooner or later pregnant with fecarfiul peril.
If this be so, slavery is a thriftless, improvident
system, as well as dangerous in itself, and the South
will lose nothing - indeed will be every way the gainers- in the voluntary surrender of it for the sake of
peace; a peace as dear to them and their children as
to Northern fathers and sons.
With freedom granted to the slaves, and proper
treatment, remuneration and education, I believe they




28
would form, in those sections of country where the
climate is congenial to them, the most faithful, devoted peasantry in the world.
CONDITION OF THE LIBERATED AFRICAN.
Connected with the surrender of slavery there are
certain conditions regarding the African race which
must necessarily be left to the determination of the
South. Among these is the right of franchise. The
persons enslaved at the South at the present time
are clearly unqualified to discharge this right in
any intelligent manner. But if they are deprived of
this privilege, they are at least as well off in this
respect as the common laborer in England, and
throughout Europe, and they are also as well off as
the better half of our own race in this country, who
do not seem to consider their exclusion from this privilege an especial hardship.
The dangers of a division of suffrage into parties
of different races at the South should not be hazarded
without the maturest consideration. The time hereafter may perhaps arrive when, through the greater
elevation of the African race, this privilege may be
granted them; or, if it should not be granted them,
and its privation should be esteemed by them oppressive, they would probably then have the ability to
emigrate, carrying with them the blessings of civilization and christianity to some land wholly free from
the rule of the white man, where nothing could tend
to impede the full development of his powers and
faculties in all that pertains to the enjoyment of free
government.




29
Simultaneously with the liberation of the slave, all
the base acts of certain Northern States, expelling the
colored race from their borders, and subjecting them
to obnoxious penalties and provisions, should be
repealed.  They form  a stigma of injustice and
oppression in the legislation of those States, second
only to the greater crime of the maintenance of
African slnvery.
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY.
A further and most controlling reason why slavery
should be surrendered to SECURE A SAFE AND PERMANENT
PEACE, iS the religious aspect of the question.
How can we look for peace, and a blessing upon it,
if we fail to regard the eternal principles of right and
justice? The Almighty seems to have designed this
continent to be the scene of a new dispensation in
government, which should form a marked improvement as compared with the despotic and feudalistic
governments of the Old World.
For this reason this country lay long hid from
the rest of the world, until the great leading events
in the history of man had opened hopes of better
progress; until the advent of the benign dispensation of the Saviour; the discovery of the mariner's
compass; the invention of printing, and the commencement of the long roll of march of the reformation through the ages. At such an era our fathers
sought a new clime, as a refuge from the persecutions
of the Old World, where they might found institutions after their own model, and enjoy 1" Freedom to
worship God."




30
Their great destiny subjected them, as a necessary
pre-requisite, to great trials; a struggle with the
gloom and deprivations of the wilderness; wars with
a savage foe; with the French Canadian provinces,
and, ultimately, with England, for the preservation of
those great principles of liberty they had come hither
to gain.  But a still greater trial awaited them.
Bound up with the new institutions they had established was the bane of slavery, for which there was
but one antidote - early and systematic efforts for its
entire removal.
Our fathers knew the evil. They had proclaimed
it in remonstrances to the throne of England against
the refusal of the colonial governors to approve of
laws prohibiting the slave trade.  They protested
against the introduction of slaves, as an evil of "most
alarming nature, and which might, in time, have a
most destructive influence on the security and happiness of the people;" and the measures of the home
government, in this respect, were, by one of the
leading slave States, in her first constitution, alleged
as a ground of separation from England.
Jefferson knew and foretold the consequences of
slavery, and thought he saw " the way preparing,
under the auspices of heaven, for its quiet, total
emancipation."   But, unfortunately, in the  trial
assigned to test our appreciation of the boon of
liberty which Providence had granted to us, and our
sense of justice and integrity as a people, wefailed,
and the judgments of God have at length come down
upon us as directly as though they had been previously proclaimed against us from some Mount Ebal,
as the certain reward of crime.




31
Had our fathers of the Revolution, after achieving
their independence and establishing the Constitution,
strenuously exerted themselves to procure the gradual abolition of slavery, it would long since have
been terminated; but the golden moment of a peaceable solution of the difficulty passed away. The
institution became irradicably fixed upon us, until its
own desperate disease threatens to become its cure,
amid great calamities wrought upon us as a people.
The present strife comes not of men's asking.
There is an inquisition for blood on our hands. God
is as apparent now in history as when he released his
own people with an outstretched arm and great judgments. Is it not in vain, then, for us, in this hour of
our calamity, to attempt to compound for the evils of
slavery? Can we propitiate a just Providence by so
doing? Can we hope for peace unless we put the
accursed thing away from us?
I have thus completed my remarks on the several
points proposed -the effect of the rebellion on slavery
in war, and the various considerations bearing on the
question of peace; a peace which shall be a final solution, and rest from all our difficulties.
Permit me now to advert, very briefly, to one or
two objections urged to the views I have advanced,
and to the consistency of advocating them.
CONSTITUTIONALITY OF MEASURES PUT FORTH AGAINST SLAVERY IN DEFENSE OF THE UNION.
It is contended to be unconstitutional to exert the
power of the Government to put down slavery. I
concede it to be so, so far as slavery is recognized
and upheld in the Constitution. But when slavery




32
changes the form under which only it is recognized
in the Constitution, and becomes treason, and slaveholders become traitors, then I say we may constitutionally put down alike both the treason and the
traitor.
Slavery has been perverted from its original position in this government. It is now arrayed against
it as an antagonistic force. It is the life-blood and
motive power of rebellion. It rears its snaky folds,
and strikes its poison virus directly at the Constitution. On account of this foul attempt it has become
accursed of God and man, and the person who fails to
strike at the monster, who weeps at his death, or sympathizes at his fall, greatly misunderstands his position, if he thinks, by so doing, he maintains the Constitution and the Union, or supports the principles or
patriotism of its founders.
RECONSTRUCTION.
One word on reconstruction.  The shock of rebellion has left the body politic of our State governments, which have been partially recovered to us,
wounded, shattered and bleeding, at the best. Time
must be granted for their recovery. The decayed,
gangrened flesh must have opportunity to slough off,
until, through the agency of new men, or at least of
men who have been healed from the leprosy of treason, new life shall be imparted, and such States,
through the people representing them, may once
more resume their position as bright stars in the
Union, redeemed, emancipated and disenthralled.
A change from rebellion to loyalty, from the hor



33
rors of war to the blessings of peace, from a position
in the Confederacy to one in this blessed Union, prepared for the full and proper discharge of its duties.
is not a slight matter, or without its difficulties!
Wise measures must be adapted to this end, securing
the action of just and loyal men. Any exception
taken to the necessary and essential qualifications
required to perfect a change in such manner, is
merely an exception to those laws which God has
established for the recovery of any broken down,
wounded, shattered, yet living thing of his creation.
CONSISTENCY OF UNION MEN SHOWN ALIKE IN OPPOSITION TO
NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ULTRAISTS.
The charge of inconsistency is sometimes made
against those who have heretofore opposed abolition
disunionists, but who now stand arrayed by the flag
of their country, to strike down rebellidn, though, in
so doing, slavery is struck down with it.
This charge is made by so-called peace party men.
Its unfounded character will appear from a moment's
examination, while the clearest evidence of inconsistency will attach to those who make it.
The distinctive character of true Democracy has
been, at all times, its firm, consistent, devoted, undying love to the Union. It was this attachment that
caused its opposition, in connection with that of all
true Union men, to that phase of political abolitionism
that sought to override the Constitution and denounce
it " as a league with hell," having no binding effect
on the people. That caused it to oppose and lament
the bitter denunciations fulminated by this interest
against the South, as tending to excite hostility and
3




34
jealousy, and ultimately to react in sundering the
ties that bind us together as a people.  All true
conservative men deeply regretted the existence of
slavery among us, but believed the destruction of the
Uniorn would tend, in no manner, to remove the evil,
but would elevate and enthrone it in an independent
nationality along our borders, fraught with incalculable evil to us, and removing all hope of freedom forever from the slave. While under the Constitution,
with due regard to the rights of the States, it was
hoped peace might be preserved, until, through the
ameliorating influences of the gospel, and a better
ultimate civilization, slavery would be done away.
From  these views true Union men have never
departed.  But the same love of the Union that
induced them to oppose danger from this source, led
them equally to oppose danger to the Union from
nullification, secession, and every other unconstitutional and disloyal ultraism of the South. Their
consistency has not been bounded by any sectional
limit. Their eyes have been fixed on the broad flag
of the nation, and the first hand raised to strike it
down, North or South, has been to them the hand of
an enemy. Death to treason, come whence it may,
is their war-cry!
What, on the other hand, has been the course of
the so-called peace party men? Have they, at all
times, held an even hand against the disturbers of
their country's peace? Have they looked with abhorrence at the parricidal course of those men who have
severed the Union, and dashed its flag to the earth?
Let them answer before God and their country.
Especially let them bring no charge against those




35
who have been every where, and at all times, for the
Union, and who now stand banded together, with all
true friends of the country, to put down a godless
rebellion!
I trust the bitterness of party feeling on this
subject is beginning to give way, and that justice,
patriotism, and love of the Union, will ere long be in
the ascendant, so that, before another birth-day of
the Union shall come round, all parties will see that
the only way of safety is to inscribe on their flag, -
Uncompromising opposition to the rebellion and to its
cause. If this be so, it will be comparatively immaterial which party triumphs, provided the country
triumphs.  There is a fearful responsibility resting
upon us in this respect, as it is an undoubted fact that
with a tunited North rebellion woutld at once cease.
Disunion here now is its only reliance.
APPEAL TO THE SOUTH.
May we not hope, also, that our brethren of the
South may yet see, from their own point of view and
their own experience, though late, the ruin they have
brought on themselves and the country, and hasten
to retrace their steps. Their interests, as well as ours,
plead for peace; peace established on principles that
will insure its permanence.
To secure this end, is it asking too much, after all
the sufferings we have endured, to demand a release
of slave property, now rendered almost worthless by
their own acts, and around which have clustered all
the causes of dissension between us? Especially is it
asking too much, if, in so doing, we remit all other
claim of indemnity, and remove, at the same time, an




36
evil, which, if continued, would forever hang over
them and us, as a black cloud of impending doom?
Surely these questions can admit of but one answer
from any dispassionate mind. Could they be submitted to those noble patriots who framed our Constitution they would meet with no dissenting voice.
Why, then, should not peace, tendered on the only
ground which can insure its permanence, be accepted?
The outcry of an attempt at subjugation will hardly
stay a claim believed to be alike for the mutual benefit of all parties. There is a determination on the
part of the people to see an end in this matter, and
put down a rebellion unexampled in the baseness of its
instigation and in the atrocity of its progress; and to
put it down in a manner so that it shall not arise
again to harm us. When the evil spirit that has possessed our Southern brethren is expelled from them,
and they are once more in their right mind, we shall
have no farther difficulty with them. But there will
be nothing left to contingency: No smothered embers, to break out again into a blaze: No declaration
of peace, where there is no peace. That angelic visitor will not be permitted to come to us in such a
questionable shape that we shall not know whether
" She brings us airs from heaven, or blasts from hell!"
The accursed vampire that has fed on the blood of
our children, North and South, will not be allowed to
rear his head again, to molest any future generation!
Our Government, henceforth, never will fulfill its high
destiny until it shall be indeed free —the hope and
blessing of all nations; without treason and temptation to treason; and WITHOUT A SLAVE!




APPENDIX.
A meeting Vwas holden at Concord, October 16, 1863, on
occasion of an address by Capt. SWIFT, relative to the
campaign in Louisiana under Gen. Banks. N. G. UPHAM
presided. Extracts from some introductory remarks made
by him at that time are here introduced, as bearingf on the
topics of the preceding Address.
REMARKS.
No man can lament more than I do, and lhave done from
the outset, the unhappy controversy that has been thrust upon
us —the parricidal attempt to strike down, in the words of
one of the leaders of this rebellion, " the best government the
world ever saw."
COMPROMISES.
My friends, what was to be done in such a case? "' Compromise," says one. But there is no pretense that a compromise
would have stayed the rash violence of any but a few of the
border States. It had long been a foregone conclusion that
the pent-up treasonable designs of the leading Southern conspirators should break out whenever the people manifested a
determination to abridge the dominant, aggressive rule of the
slave States in their management of this Government. They
designed that the overthrow of their power as a party should
be the death-knell of the Constitution and the Union.
No compromising policy adopted with the border States
would have stayed this result. These States, themselves, held
to the right of secession. They palliated and extenuated its
enormities. They participated in it, so far as to claim that




38
the North should stand still, and await the forcible expulsion
of our flag and our troops from the Carolinas, and all sympathizing Southern States, and that we should rely on their
kind intercessions, as disinterested mediators, to bring back
our wayward brethren through the influence of their moral
suasion. lIow paltry and futile such a proceeding would have
been; how utterly hopeless to any possible favorable result, it
is unnecessary to say. No! the crisis had come; that inevitable hour in the destiny of the nation had arrived, when we
were to be put to the trial, to test our appreciation of the
blessings and worth of the heritage of freedom our fathers
had bequeathed to us; and I desire to thank God, that the
spirit of the people was not wanting to the occasion!
COLLISION BETWEEN FREEDOMI AND SLAVERY.
The collision between Freedom and the newly aggressive
spirit of Slavery had arisen. Our fathers originally tolerated
slavery in connection with  this Government, fearfully and
"tremblingly," as Jefferson said, "when he remembered that
God was just;" but hopefully, as they believed the spirit of
freedom and advancing civilization would soon remove the
dark stain from our midst; but a new generation has come
upon the stage, wiser than the noble men who founded our
Government -than Washington, Franklin, Adams and Jefferson; and instead of looking upon slavery as an evil, to be temporarily tolerated, they attempt to rear it up within the
sacred precincts of our Constitution as an idol to be worshipped. They climb the table lands of Mexico, they assault the
inoffensive States of Central America, they plan and organize
attacks on Cuba, to acquire new slaveholding territory, to be
annexed to us. They steal from Africa, and surreptitiously
land here, free men, to enslave them and their posterity for
ever within our borders. They compel a Northern Administration to pander to their base designs in thrusting slavery
into Kansas against the will of its people, and when a chief
magistrate is elected who does not harmonize in all these
attempts, they secede, by virtue of their constitutional right.
By virtue of that right they claim to exercise the powers
denied them by the Constitution, of raising fleets and armies,




39
and contracting foreign alliances. They wage a sacrilegious
war against this Government, and shoot down the soldiers
who uphold the flag under which Washington fought.
For one, I repel the aggrandizing and aggressive impulse
they attempt to give to the spirit and terms of our Constitution as regards slavery; I denounce the secession which they
claim as a right, as a most infamous, heaven-defying rebellion.
I strike back the blow they aim at our star-spangled banner!
SUBJUGATION OF THE SOUTH.
But some of our friends exclaim, "It is all in vain; you
can't subjugate the South!" On this point let me say I have
no desire to subjugate the South in the sense that would
require an armed occupation of their entire territory, which
is a manifestly difficult achievement, and is by no means necessary.  I will tell you what we can do, however.  We can
hold the Mississippi river, which our friend will tell you to-night
has been most triumphantly taken. We can take and hold
every prominent seaport on the Atlantic. We can shut up the
remaining rebel population of the extreme Southern States
between the Atlantic waters and the mountain passes of their
northern border, from Chattanooga, east and west, and lower
down, if need be, and there I am willing they should remain and
abide the result. Isolated, as they will be, from all valuable
intercourse with foreign nations; estranged, as they will be, under the reaction now going on, from the sympathy of every
God-fearing, liberty-loving man throughout the wide world, they
will soon find that the corner-stone on which they have claimed,
par excellence, to build up their constitutional system, will crumble to atoms, and slavery, the heart and head of their system,
will speedily sicken and die, or take to itself wings and fly
away. I desire for them no worse purgatory than this.
We will subjugate them as that poor prodigal was subjugated, who fled from his father's mansion, where was home,
and shelter, and plenty, and wasted his substance in riotous
living; until, reduced to abject misery, he was fain to take up
with the husks that the swine did eat. When it comes to
that pass, I trust that our erring brethren will say, " there is
enough in my father's house, and to spare. I will arise and




40
go to my father;" and, like that Heavenly Father, I hope we
may have grace to receive them, though they have causelessly
and traitorously shot down our children and brothers; though
they have carried weeping, and desolation, and woe, to families within almost every square mile of our wide-spread land;
though they aim at the lives of the brave officers and soldiers,
who stand around us to-night, ready to die, if need be, for ourselves and their country; yet, notwithstanding all this, and
despite of it all, I trust we shall be ready to receive them,
with open arms, and that we shall yet live together and die
together under the good old flag of our fathers!